Improvement in fire-alarms



w. A. BARNES.

Fire-Alarms.

N0.138,467. PatentedMay6,1873.

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WILLIAM A. BARNES, OF BRIDGEPOFIT, CONNNEGTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ALARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,467, dated May 6, 1873; application filed V March 1, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM A. BARNES, of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Alarm Explosive rlorpedoes or Cartridges; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, in which- Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent, in perspective, three several different forms of my proposed iire-alarm torpedo. Fig. 4 represents a section through that shown at Fig. 2. Fig. 5 represents, in perspective, the shell or case of the torpedo or cartridge after it has been exploded.

I am aware that many kinds of audible or explosive fire-alarms have been made, and that among them one, at least, was so contrived as that a projecting fuse should be ignited by a high temperature, and this ignited fuse set off a charge of powder, or other explosive, contained in a barrel or chamber. The liability of these explosive cartridges to explode by other means and at other times than when an accidental fire actually exists, and the danger of the pieces, parts, or the barrelitself, flying when exploded, render them of little practical use, as they are so unsafe and dangerous about a house.

The object and purpose of my invention is, first, to make an alarm torpedo or cartridge that will have none of its ignitiblc or explosive material exposed; on the contrary, that it shall be closely and tightly closed within a metallic case or shell; secondly, that said torpedo or cartridge shall not explode by concussion,but only by the increased temperature of the air around or about it, and this high temperature conveyed to the explosive compound by conduction through the metal case or shell 3 and, thirdly, that the case or shell shall be so constructed that it shall neither fly or break into pieces by the force of the explosion, nor itself, as a whole, fly or be driven from its location, and so avoid injury to any one. And my invention consists in a fire-alarm torpedo or cartridge, the shell of which is so made that While it may burst or part by the explosion, it cannot iiy into pieces, nor leave the locality or place where it was fixed and exploded 5 and my inventionv further consists in a fire-alarm torpedo or cartridge, the case of which is so made as to burst without iiyin g into fragments, which is united or fastened to the spot where it is located by a nail or screw, that prevents it from flying as a whole under the force of the explosion, and which has tightly inclosed vwithin its metallic sides a charge or composition not ignitible by concussion, but ignitible by the conduction of a high temperature through the metal that incloses the charge or composition.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawing.

The shell a of the torpedo or cartridge may be in the form of a button or short cylinder,

or other form, if desired, and, by preference, made of one piece of meta-l. It', however, it be made of two or more pieces, then one piece or part is so made that the other pieces or parts may separate or open out, but still adhere to this one fixed part, as will be explained, the object being that no fragments of the case or shell shall fly off from the other parts thereof. These shells or cases are charged with a composition or substance not explosive by concussion, but which will ignite under a temperature of, say, two or three hundred, or more, degrees of temperature, and thus explode. The charge or composition, as at c, Fig. 4:, is entirely inclosed within the metallic case a, so that it can only be exploded by the conduction of the high. heat or temperature through the metal of the case or shell. Through one of the heads of the torpedo or cartridge, or through a flap or projecting portion, e, attached to or which is a part of the metal of which the case or vshell is made, is passed a nail or screw, j', by which the torpedo or cartridge is fastened in such locality as tires would be apt to occur in 5 and when the torpedo or cartridge is exploded by causes as above stated the shell can part, but not dy, and will be held to its local.- ity by the nail, screw, or other equivalent fastening, as shownv at Fig. 5, and thus prevent any danger to those occupying the house, or near the explosion when it occurs.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, in fire-alarm torpedoes or cartridges, is-

2. A nre-alarm torpedo or cartridge, consisting of a shell or case, a, fastened in any desired locality by a nail, screw, or other similar fastening, f, and inclosing within it so as not to be exposed externally any known composition, c, ignitible, not by concussion, but by heat conducted through the metal of the case or shell, as and for the purpose described and represented.

, WILLIAM A. BARNES. Witnesses:

D. M. SEGEE, J E. WILsoN.

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